


Exhaustion

by RayneSummer



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s05e07 A Lesson in Vengeance, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27092986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer
Summary: Slight AU to 5.07 where healing Arthur takes more out of Merlin than he or Gaius had realised.
Relationships: Gaius & Merlin (Merlin)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 103





	Exhaustion

The squeaking of the prison cell door cut through the silence this deep in the castle. After opening the door, Gwaine stepped politely back, but Gaius caught the knight's hesitant look as he nodded for the physician to look into the small room.

Gaius ignored Gwaine's troubles for now, focused on reunited Merlin with a healed Arthur and getting back on track to do something about the traitor - which they now knew was Guinevere.

He frowned as the loud sound from the gate didn't seem to affect the sleeping boy at all. Merlin lay still, on his front with head turned to the wall, one arm dangling off the narrow bench and his jacket haphazardly draped over his upper body as some form of cover.

"Morning, Merlin," Gaius called, injecting some brightness into his tone so the boy would know it was good news.

But Merlin didn't move.

Concern growing, Gaius didn't bother to glance back at Gwaine even as he heard the knight shift, instead taking an instinctive step into the cell towards his ward, saying again, "Merlin?"

Nothing.

Quickly becoming alarmed, Gaius reached the boy's side and immediately swept his gaze over the form. There was no obvious injury, and on focusing, Gaius could see his back rising slightly with barely noticeable breaths, if anything a bit too quickly. The only sign that something was wrong, other than continued unconsciousness, was his face, several shades paler than usual and covered in a sheen of sweat.

"Merlin?" Gaius murmured again, no longer expecting an answer, as he put a hand gently to the back of the boy's neck, and was immediately shocked at the heat there. He shifted his hand to press fingers into the skin at the side, quickly registering a weak, rapid pulse that seemed unsteady in its presence.

Allowing the presence of life to comfort him for a moment, Gaius heard Gwaine step forward, deference clearly not enough to keep him from his best friend when something was clearly wrong.

"What is it?" The knight looked around briefly as though expecting an attacker to appear and confess to doing something to the only prisoner in this cell. When nothing did, and so there was nothing to physically fight, Gwaine took another step around the physician to see Merlin for himself, looking on warily as Gaius rested his hand on the back of the boy's head, tangled slightly in the dark hair, which seemed to calm the man.

Gaius was doing some quick thinking. Though any number of things could cause these symptoms, given recent events, the most likely reason was something akin to magical exhaustion.

He had clearly struggled to heal Arthur, using reserves of power he might not have even known he had, and in doing so, drained his body of its natural magic, leaving him weakened and desperately needing rest that was so clearly lacking in Camelot's dungeons. As a result, he'd succumbed to exhaustion, unable to wake until he had recovered enough to function himself.

But that wasn't exactly something Gaius could just say.

So he took a breath and glanced at Gwaine, gaining a commanding presence that he hoped the knight would follow. "He has a fever. I fear he's developed an illness from being left in the dungeons in so much uncertainty and tiredness," he said, not trying to keep a note of accusation out of his voice. Although it wasn't the knight's fault directly, Gwaine had gone along with not-Gwen's accusation, and had watched his best friend be dragged away.

Sure enough, Gwaine winced, but quickly controlled himself, eyes fixed on Merlin with a determination that came with helping.

"Will he be alright?"

Taking the fear in the knight's eyes as a sign of regret, Gaius relented and looked back to his patient, considering what he would need to get back on his feet. Mostly rest, and something for that fever, which had clearly risen throughout the night as he fought the exhaustion before it took him over. Stupid boy.

"I need you to take him to my chambers," he declared, straightening up and finally letting his hand lose contact with the still form as he addressed Gwaine. The man nodded, and moved forward, pausing slightly at Gaius' brief warning look. Carefully, Gwaine crouched by the bench, grabbing the hanging arm and pulling it over his shoulder as he turned, and doing the same with the closest leg. He straightened up slowly, letting Merlin's weight drape across his shoulders and back, and nodded to Gaius determinedly. 

The physician nodded back, slower though, and stepped back to let Gwaine leave the cell with his ward before beginning to follow him.

They took quiet hallways up and through the castle, most people occupied after the apparent attempted assassination of their king. Gaius knew he would have to go and inform said royal that his manservant would not be seeing him, and when they drew close to Arthur's chambers, he waved Gwaine on without a word, and steadied himself, waiting until the knight was around the corner before knocking on the king's door.

"Enter," came a call, and Gaius creaked open the door to reveal Arthur sitting at his table, looking well on the way to recovery. Thanks to Merlin. Always thanks to Merlin.

Gaius inclined his head in a bow. "Sire, I am afraid to inform you that Merlin cannot come and see you today," he reported, making sure his tone wasn't too grave that the king would consider something seriously wrong.

He did frown though, looking confused. "Why not?"

"He appears to have fallen ill while locked up, my lord. I have yet to examine him fully, but I am sure that it is not serious," he continued, noting the way Arthur schooled his expression carefully into neutral, even as his mouth tightened at the news. "After some rest and medicine, he should be fine in a day or so."

There was a pause as Arthur took in that information. Not only was he poisoned, his manservant blamed, but now said servant was sick. It wasn't the best of times.

He took a breath, and gave a nod. "Very well. We both need rest, I feel," he sighed, kingly presence disappearing just slightly when only in company with his court physician that had seen him through life. "Send him back to work when he is well enough, not a moment before."

Gaius nodded back, pleased but not surprised by how well Arthur was handling the entire situation. Another murmur drew his attention before he left, Arthur staring down at the table unseeingly. "We all owe him an apology. I don't know what they were thinking."

* * *

Quickly, Gaius hurried back to his rooms after leaving the King, acutely aware of every moment he wasn't by his ward's side while the boy was vulnerable. Anything could happen, including revealing his magic - he never did do well with fevers - or being attacked in their own home.

Not that Gaius didn't trust Gwaine (locking up his best friend nonwithstanding), but the fierce protectiveness in him wasn't satisfied unless he was with the young warlock.

He soon arrived at his door, entering to find Gwaine having settled Merlin on the bed in the main room, and was frowning down at him, looking dismayed at the sight of the usually bright man unconscious and defeated. He looked up at the door as it opened, and straightened up.

"Nothing," Gwaine said immediately, a worried frown on his face. Gaius nodded impatiently; he hadn't expected a reaction yet. Based on the sheer amount of effort and magic that Merlin had to use to completely heal Arthur and remove the poison, it wouldn't be surprising if he was out for the whole day, or even longer. That didn't mean that Gaius wasn't worried too, but he was more aware of what the problem was, which gave him a portion of relief.

Gaius moved to the bed where Merlin had been placed on his back, as still as before. He placed a hand gently on the boy's forehead, noting the temperature again and tenderly brushing a lock of hair out of the way.

"Will he be alright?" 

The knight sounded uncertain and unlike his usual confident self, so much so that Gaius took pity on him and looked over at where Gwaine stood dithering near the door. "Yes, Sir Gwaine. The fever isn't too high. With some rest and medicine, he should recover." It was almost the same words he had said to Arthur, not that it wasn't true.

Gwaine nodded, still looking somewhat unconvinced. Gaius straightened up from the bed and headed over to a table of potions, effectively dismissing the knight.

Usually, Gwaine would not leave his friend before he had seen some sign of recovery himself. But these were not usual times, and after another useless glance at the figure on the bed, Gwaine sighed and stepped to the door, reaching for the handle.

But he paused, wondering suddenly when things went so wrong. When did he not stand up for Merlin? When did he--

"If you would leave, so I may see to my patient," Gaius spoke up abruptly. His tone was mild, and there was no clear accusatory sharpness that there had been slight before, but it was clear the man wanted to be alone with his ward. They were the only one each could still trust.

So Gwaine left, and Gaius sighed, stopping his busy search of potions and looking up wearily as the door closed, leaving the room quiet. He too glanced at the too-young figure on the bed, full of questions.

But he had a job, and something he could do. So he mixed and gathered, collecting a couple of complete potions to lower the fever and aid in recovery, strengthening the body against secondary illness that could try and creep in while it was under from exhaustion. Gaius took the potions over to the bed, pulling a stool with a free hand to sit beside his ward, regarding the boy sadly.

Carefully, he opened Merlin's jaw slightly, and tipped the bottles so a few drops from each trickled into his mouth one after another, barely making the boy frown in his exhaustion.

That done, Gaius put the bottles on the floor, not bothered about returning them to their table right now, and took Merlin's closest hand, rubbing a thumb absently over the knuckles as he lighted his fingers against the wrist. He fancied the heartbeat was already growing stronger and steadying, striving to achieve balance again after being knocked out of alignment.

Gaius sighed, and reached for a blanket that he softly spread over the boy, tucking it in with reverence. But he stayed in his seat for a long while after ensuring Merlin was recovering, worry and guilt keeping him close to the precious boy he loved so fiercely.

* * *

Eventually, he had to get back to work. Still not wanting to leave the chambers, and therefore Merlin, Gaius cleared up around the room, and gathered books to settle down at a table in view of the bed, studying through different ways to force a person to do someone else's will. There had to be something.

But so far research was not giving any new information. The only other encounter they had with this sort of thing was when Morgana had resurrected Lancelot as a Shade, years ago. But Gwen hadn't died. Something had happened in the Dark Tower. But what, Gaius could not currently imagine.

Late in the evening, he was tidying up a few rogue bottles laying around - most people knew better than to take something on the side in the physician's chambers, but there was the odd person that just didn't think - when Merlin finally stirred.

Gaius immediately focused on his ward as the boy moved slightly under the blanket, brow creased. He hurried to the bedside as Merlin managed to slowly blink his hazy eyes open.

He stared listlessly at the ceiling for a moment as Gaius took the seat from earlier, considering waiting it out; but that quickly changed into making sure he was alright sooner rather than later.

Leaning forward just slightly, Gaius put a hand on Merlin's cheek as it didn't seem like the warlock was focusing on the present at all. "Merlin?" He asked, softly, and waited for the boy to meet his eyes, still dull for a worrying moment. Then, as Gaius withdrew his hand, recognition flickered and Merlin seemed to come back to himself.

"Gaius?" He coughed as his dry throat scratched, pushing himself up a little to take in the surroundings.

His guardian put a hand on his shoulder, and with the other hand offered a drink of water he'd kept ready. Merlin took it in a shaking hand and sipped until he felt able to talk again. "What am I-- Wait-"

Clearly struggling to connect the dots, Gaius gently took the cup back from Merlin and pushed him back down on the pillow a little in a soothing gesture.

"It's alright, Merlin. Don't worry yourself. You're home, my boy." 

Merlin frowned, blinking against exhaustion that was still pulling at his mind. "What?" He murmured, already feeling tiredness trying to pull him back under after only a minute of consciousness. It was confusing and jarring to wake up in such a state.

Gaius had his worried but stern physician look about him, causing Merlin not to protest when the man pressed a hand against his forehead. The contact was calming.

"When Gwaine and I went to see you this morning, you were unresponsive and running a fever," he explained carefully, retreating his hands and watching Merlin closely. "I had you brought here and informed the king you would not be seeing him today."

Blinking slowly as he tried to take in the information, Merlin took a breath. "So he's fine?"

The physician nodded kindly. "Yes, Merlin. He's fine, but you're not. My guess is you used so much magic in healing Arthur that there wasn't enough to sustain yourself. You must have succumbed to exhaustion at some point when you returned to the cells. Your body needs to recover."

"Mm." Informed that assumingly everyone was as fine as they could be, Merlin could feel himself being dragged into tiredness again. He forced his eyes to open, seeing his guardian watching him fondly. "Is it late?" He managed to murmur. Gaius nodded, leaning back a little.

"Late enough. The fact that you've only just come round and are clearly struggling to stay awake means that you are not recovered yet. But the fever has practically gone, so I am confident that you should be on your feet tomorrow." He fixed his ward with a warning look. "As long as you get a proper night's rest. I assume you do not need a sleeping draught now, but I will dose you if you try to get out of this bed before morning."

Merlin sighed, both comforted by his mentor's watching and slightly miffed at the concern. He was just a little tired, it would be fine. He opened his mouth to say as much, but was cut off.

"I mean it, Merlin," Gaius continued severely, clearly aware of his usual dismissal. "You used power you probably didn't realise you possessed yet in healing Arthur from such a potent poison. Such an action could have caused much worse symptoms, or even killed you if you aren't careful."

He sighed and nodded against the pillow, unwilling to argue about destiny and being less important right now. Letting his eyes fall closed, he turned slightly and pulled the blanket up a little more. It was scratchy and old, but to Merlin it was comfortable and felt like home. "I know," he murmured, barely audible.

Gaius shifted beside him, and a light hand was placed on his head for a moment. 

"Rest, now. I'll be here."

Ensuring that Merlin was asleep again, this time deeply to regain the strength he desperately needed back, Gaius finally allowed himself a slight smile, and stood up from the stool, letting his hand rest in the boy's hair for just a moment longer before stepping away. A pleasant evening stretched ahead of them, where Gaius could just read books and watch over his ward, safe once more. He wouldn't have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> I started this in Just Come Home but then it just.. became its own thing. idk. also it's 2am why can i literally only write at midnight and also not end things well ever.
> 
> Let me know if it's any good ha


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